Planet Corp. by Maschinen-Mensch

[raw]
made by Maschinen-Mensch for LD29 (JAM)
Planet Corp has announced a revolutionary new approach to solve the world's resource problems. Thanks to their latest invention in spacecraft mining, they have discovered a method to extract valuable resources from beneath a planet's surface. Take control of the Planet Corp mining vessel and start extracting for mankind and a better future! But please, don't blow up too many planets in the process.

++---------------++

Working in space is dangerous. Here are some tips from the secret Planet Corp Mining Manual..

* Firing torpedo-drills on the planet surface, will decrease stability. So use less torpedos if possible.

* Resources that are in the explosion range of a torpedo-drill are lost. The ideal approach to harvesting is to ignite the resource chambers without actually destroying them.

* Understand how different planet materials influence the drilling speed of your torpedos.

* Don't hit the planet core. Doing this will heavily increase the danger of planet destibilization.

* Yes, Venus can be successfully harvested.

++---------------++

The game does not require any plugins and should run directly in your browser window.

Use Twitter for feedback and questions: @CuriousExped

++---------------++

Credits:

Riad Djemili - Code & Idea
Johannes Kristmann - Art & Idea

Lawrence Steele - Title Music
Special Thanks to Shawn Frison

Ratings

Coolness 78% 2
Overall(Jam) 4.10 20
Audio(Jam) 3.41 212
Fun(Jam) 3.96 24
Graphics(Jam) 4.12 117
Humor(Jam) 3.81 41
Innovation(Jam) 4.09 16
Mood(Jam) 3.59 147
Theme(Jam) 4.18 11

Feedback

Seraphic Media
29. Apr 2014 · 02:07 UTC
Aw man, I failed the first time lol the newsperson made me laugh! Fun game you guys! And nice pixelart!
Solluxx
29. Apr 2014 · 05:28 UTC
Great game guys :) an interesting concept and great use of the theme. I love the sound effects for Donovan ;D
Hypnohustla
29. Apr 2014 · 07:32 UTC
Awesome game with good humor. The Freddie Mercury joke actually made me laugh. :D
Overall a nice and simple mechanic. Addicting as hell too! I think I'll be back to play this one again. :)
Covenant
29. Apr 2014 · 08:20 UTC
Awesome gameplay concept, well executed, very polished, one of the best I've seen so far! Congrats!
tinytouchtales
29. Apr 2014 · 08:59 UTC
Hehe good one! Liked the interpretation. At times too difficult to hit the right depth.
Fox_in_sox
29. Apr 2014 · 10:43 UTC
Amazing game! You took a popular concept and made it better and more fun! I can see a lot of work was put into this project.:)
Jargo
29. Apr 2014 · 14:19 UTC
Cool game, love the idea. Riad and Jo rulez!

P.S.: Venus is ridiculous!!!
SoupWithBits
29. Apr 2014 · 14:20 UTC
I'm not the biggest fun of pixel art but it works with the simplicity of the game. Like the mechanic of the stability of the planet.
kbm
29. Apr 2014 · 14:35 UTC
Very cool, loved the idea and art. Great job, guys! :)
baykush_figtree
29. Apr 2014 · 14:58 UTC
Simple yet smart mechanics, check.
Beautiful and gameplay-friendly art , check.
Well written and fitting theme, check.

Well done mate. Well done.
DMinsky
29. Apr 2014 · 14:58 UTC
Hey! Nice job! And yes, we have something common in our projects ;)
eastes
29. Apr 2014 · 15:41 UTC
Love it! 5 stars
Dominator_101
29. Apr 2014 · 16:41 UTC
Pretty nice, overall.

I have to say, though, Venus is WAY too hard. Even once I found a better approach (go for 2, not 3, and stay away from the core) it still took me a while. There were a couple times I hit every pocket but still didn't have enough resources.

But still, great overall. Especially the newscaster sound effects.
tomvert
29. Apr 2014 · 17:53 UTC
I'm bookmarking this game for later :) Too bad it's so hard, there should be an easy planet at the beginning to understand the mechanics step by step. Otherwise everything is perfectly polished.
eatsleepindie
29. Apr 2014 · 18:44 UTC
Great game. Easy to pick up but difficult to master. I'll definitely be back for more later on.
tripleVisionGames
29. Apr 2014 · 19:07 UTC
Love the art and the ship's really nice to handle. Great simple idea that works really really well.
kidder
30. Apr 2014 · 04:12 UTC
This is great. Amazing art, love the news broadcasts, and the mechanics are solid, fun, and well polished.
PriorBlue
30. Apr 2014 · 04:43 UTC
Funny scenario and nice art style.
MoArtis
30. Apr 2014 · 05:40 UTC
Nice concept! :) And very nice art style. I would like to be able to draw stuff like that by myself. :(
mr_tag
30. Apr 2014 · 07:22 UTC
had this idea, too. very nice to see how it could've turned out. nice job!
ChickadeeGames
30. Apr 2014 · 10:44 UTC
This is great. Thumbs up.
dertom
30. Apr 2014 · 11:02 UTC
Just wow! Great game! Fits the theme perfect have a nice abstraction of a reallife problem! Great job!
runvs
30. Apr 2014 · 14:05 UTC
Very nice game. It all fits together so well!
Elforama
30. Apr 2014 · 17:36 UTC
Tough game, but very fun.
pancakecity
30. Apr 2014 · 18:47 UTC
This is a really fun game, very good mechanics! That intro was hilarious. Great art.
rnlf
30. Apr 2014 · 23:01 UTC
Cool idea. You should drop Planetary Resources a mail about the torpedo drill :D
drnick
01. May 2014 · 01:22 UTC
Great game! The concept is good and the art is nice. The newsman saying nom nom nom nom nom nom
finefin
01. May 2014 · 09:08 UTC
haha this is great!
love the style!
tschery
01. May 2014 · 10:54 UTC
Really enjoyed playing your game at talk & play yesterday, also would like to see the vine which you took
Corné Dorrestijn
01. May 2014 · 10:54 UTC
Nice game, and indeed venus is hard :P
Bekokstover
01. May 2014 · 11:16 UTC
Great game! Too bad I still can't finish Venus, even after trying for a long time at Talk & Play. It looks and feels great - awesome work!
🎤 Maschinen-Mensch
01. May 2014 · 11:34 UTC
Thanks everybody for the super nice comments! We're really happy with the game.

@tschery: The vine is here: https://vine.co/v/MrKZ6ApTOH0 . We also tweeted it from our game account @curiousexped :)
TobiasW
01. May 2014 · 19:04 UTC
Well, that was a lot of fun. Mercury was hard and I stopped after a few tries of Venus, but with an entry like mine, I can hardly complain about difficulty level, can I?

The audio effects are perfect (although some a little bit jarring) and the opening title music is great, so - why is there no music ingame? :(

Some notes:
- Should be able to skip sections of the cutscenes with a click instead of the whole thing. Sometimes people just want th hear things FASTER instead of skipping totally.
- I'd have loved to have some feedback when the explosions happened: How many points? How much of this did I collect? And also: Do I still have a chance of winning this level?

All in all, fantastic entry with an amazing level of polish!
aaronjbaptiste
01. May 2014 · 19:18 UTC
What a cool idea! Really liked it.
Oddly Shaped Pixels
01. May 2014 · 20:25 UTC
Great idea!!! And great minds think alike :) I really like the simple fun of the firing mechanic :) And yours is better in-game explained than mine :))
tehryanx
01. May 2014 · 21:33 UTC
My favorite jam entry so far. 5's all through. This is polished enough to be in the market right now. Great work.
Jod
01. May 2014 · 22:24 UTC
Okay, I hate Mercury now. Awesomely done! Great style and visual cohesion!
gre
02. May 2014 · 09:55 UTC
Ahahahah, the audio made me laugh a lot! Thanks for that!
The game is incredible, love it !
The concept is awesome, would have been great if the "fuel" was part of the game difficulty.
I think it is one of the best compo of the LD.
It is hard not to put 5/5 everywhere^^
Thorig
02. May 2014 · 10:14 UTC
Nice game, like the gameplay a lot.
conormn
02. May 2014 · 14:37 UTC
Amazing execution. Loved the mechanics. Really well done :)
lowcade
02. May 2014 · 15:49 UTC
Very well done this game!
Complete and full of interesting details.
I had fun playing and I think it's perfect as it is ^ ^
Dooleus
02. May 2014 · 15:57 UTC
Aw man, that intro screen with the newscaster is SWEET! Loving the gameplay, but when the planet destabilized and I didn't get to see is blow up I was SO DISAPPOINTED! Haha. I know it's not a good thing to blow up a planet (or ex-planet, since we're talking about Pluto), but still... a videogame about space mining can never have too many explosions in my book.
🎤 Maschinen-Mensch
02. May 2014 · 16:01 UTC
@TobiasW: Agree on all points. We just didn't manage to do more in the time given. Definitely something for the HD version :)

@Dooleus: Thanks, actually the whole point of the game is blowing up planets. If you didn't see the planet explode, you didn't beat the level. There are multiple levels and a small plot connecting them.
Dooleus
02. May 2014 · 16:03 UTC
I just made that connection after playing and NOT failing the misson, haha! Fantastic game, seriously!
travislucia
02. May 2014 · 17:33 UTC
Awesome Game, Graphics were nice and gameplay was smooth and responsive.
elefantopia
02. May 2014 · 18:05 UTC
WOW! This is awesome! I like the ship's dynamic, the tutu-newscast and blowing planets is fun.
elefantopia
02. May 2014 · 18:06 UTC
Splendid idea for economic growth. Reminds me what Somanto corp. came up with.
BoaHeck_ArtGent
02. May 2014 · 21:14 UTC
Fun and pretty and funny I like it.
BenW
03. May 2014 · 03:39 UTC
I really liked it but it was extremely hard to harvest everything in the third level. Might want to make it a bit easier.
GeorgeBroussard
03. May 2014 · 06:40 UTC
Great entry. Liked the mechanic of drilling, avoiding blowing the planet up and the movement of the ship. Was satisfying to play.
PaperBlurt
03. May 2014 · 10:45 UTC
This is so fudging brilliant.
The steering and gameplay is so simple and easy to understand.

The pixel style and premise with the news caster is really fantastic.

Good (no genius) game!
spotco
03. May 2014 · 11:46 UTC
HOLY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGGHHHHH
If you read this, a billion #$%#$%'s at you for the venus level. That took me an hour...but did feel so good once I beat it. The final earth level was a nice pause (at least you didn't make it even harder :)).

Loved the game, ended up spending most of an hour to beat it. Bravo!
HybridMind
03. May 2014 · 23:53 UTC
This is one of my favorite games of the jam! Hilarious, innovative, and damn fun. I couldn't get past Mercury yet, but it is a really cool skill game. Love the newscaster and the humor throughout. Nice work!
Kate Kligman
04. May 2014 · 01:53 UTC
Loved this! Nice graphics, loved the intro sequences and pixel art. One of my favorite games for this LD.
jacklehamster
04. May 2014 · 06:18 UTC
Great original gameplay mechanics. It's simple and easy to pick up even without reading instructions.
Zerkruemler
04. May 2014 · 19:55 UTC
Very cool and Polished. Easy to understand, hard to master
Acuity
04. May 2014 · 20:07 UTC
Nice game concept! I wish it came with music and an upgrade system. I like the sfx.
Jared Sartin
04. May 2014 · 21:01 UTC
Love it! Can't wait to see more additions!
Daniel X. Moore
04. May 2014 · 21:12 UTC
Great game, best one I've played so far. I wish there were an option to skip ahead after too many failures.
dector
04. May 2014 · 21:30 UTC
Good fun game.
Venturelli
04. May 2014 · 21:36 UTC
Very, very, very good :D Congrats!
DDRKirby(ISQ)
04. May 2014 · 22:36 UTC
Dat Venus.

This is really nice :)
scgrn
04. May 2014 · 23:48 UTC
Cool idea and nicely polished!
mechabit
04. May 2014 · 23:59 UTC
Fun game, love the art, well done
baykush_figtree
05. May 2014 · 00:35 UTC
Hey! Planet Corp is featured on my "favorites" post

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2014/05/04/my-favorite-ld29-games/
tchem
05. May 2014 · 01:43 UTC
Great idea!!!,,, i loved it.
FrameMatt
05. May 2014 · 07:33 UTC
Really enjoyed the graphics, i want to see it in a arcade machine :D
Katamori
05. May 2014 · 19:55 UTC
AMAZING IN EVERY ASPECTS! Check my video for further opinion.
mcapraro
06. May 2014 · 05:55 UTC
really fun, it was especially neat to just fly the ship around the planet at top speed ;) love the graphics too
SecondDimension
06. May 2014 · 13:05 UTC
Great game with fun mechanics.
shadow64
07. May 2014 · 05:58 UTC
I really liked this. I thought it was really well put together and very well polished. I think the gameplay is pretty repetitive - after a level I sort of "got it" - but that's okay. I could definitely see this being a full game and the mechanics are interesting and original as far as I know.

Well done. Thanks for sharing! :D
PapyGaragos
07. May 2014 · 17:34 UTC
This entry is just awesome. Great mechanics, controls that feel good, sounds that are not a pain to the ears, a nice touch of humor, nice transitions screens...
5 star all around
jorgemoag
07. May 2014 · 21:21 UTC
Hehehe the game made me laught :D but it's a little glitchy
porglezomp
08. May 2014 · 00:58 UTC
Best game ever:
"Earth: Don't do it."

It could do with some more rock types maybe, put 'em on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter? The best LD game so far.
Jupiter_Hadley
09. May 2014 · 11:01 UTC
Poor Pluto. Very nice game though. I included it in part 16 of my Ludum Dare compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/ruvs0qoO4zU
Romko Pidstryhach
11. May 2014 · 20:16 UTC
Wow, nice game!
woodenrabbit
16. May 2014 · 03:53 UTC
Awesome game! The art and the writing is really fun :D Its a great game and it fits well with theme. I had a lot of fun playing it.
Kimau
17. May 2014 · 12:45 UTC
Brilliant! Damn Venus to all hell though.
klianc09
17. May 2014 · 13:02 UTC
Really like this. Good sounds and graphics. Just wish I could fast-forward the news anchor.
And I don't think Venus is possible ;)
IAmSpencer
17. May 2014 · 21:10 UTC
Simple idea, but you added enough polish to make it deeper and a lot of fun. Really nice job!
GFM
18. May 2014 · 23:29 UTC
Arg. >_<
Screw venus!!! >_<

But this game is still awesome! That intro song... wow!
And nice graphics!
Jools64
20. May 2014 · 00:52 UTC
Really fantastic game, one of the best that I've played!